Four weeks to departure...

I'm four weeks away from departing the United States for my second international trip, this time to Costa Rica, located in Central America between Nicaragua (north) and Panama (south). I will be spending the entire fall semester there, studying Tropical Ecology, Development, and Social Justice with the Living Routes program at the Monteverde Institute in Monteverde, Costa Rica. I'm anticipating this experience with great excitement; I have never done anything like this before. I will be living in a homestay, fully immersed in the language (Spanish) and the culture with my homestay family. I'm excited not only for this but also the education I will be receiving there (perhaps more importantly, but that is debatable).

There are many thing I still need to do before I leave, which includes creating a packing list, actually packing, buying things I will need that I don't already own (rainjacket, rainpants, covering for backpack to shield it from the rain... can you guess what the weather will be like down there??), as well as a few pre-semester assignments. Hopefully I will blog about these assignments as I get them done because I am sure that I will learn so much before I leave. I have to complete some journal entries after reading several articles, create a personal life map, a "Personal Passion Presentation" (that will most likely take the longest), create a weblog account (hey look! I did that one!), calculate my carbon footprint (you should too!), and identify tropical products that I use in my daily life. Quite a list with only four weeks to go... better get started!

I leave for San Jose, Costa Rica on August 27th at 6:05 in the morning. Let the countdown begin!